- •Introducing Ubuntu
- •About Open Source
- •Free Software Movement, Open Source and Linux
- •The Free Software Movement
- •The Open Source Movement and Linux
- •About Ubuntu
- •The Ubuntu Promise
- •Ubuntu Versions
- •Ubuntu Derivatives
- •Ubuntu Development and the Community
- •Ubuntu and Microsoft Windows: Key Differences
- •Installation
- •Applications
- •Lesson Summary
- •Review Exercise
- •Exploring the Ubuntu Desktop
- •Ubuntu Desktop Components
- •Changing the Default Language
- •Creating a User Account and Fast User Switching
- •Adding/Removing Applications
- •Desktop Effects - Compiz Fusion
- •Lesson Summary
- •Review Exercise
- •Lab Exercise
- •Using the Internet
- •Connecting to and Using the Internet
- •Network Manager
- •Using a Cable Connection
- •Using a Wireless Card
- •Browsing the Web
- •Using an RSS feed reader
- •Liferea Newsreader
- •Using Evolution Mail
- •Instant Messaging
- •Making Phone Calls Using Softphones
- •Using Ekiga
- •Skype
- •Lesson Summary
- •Review Exercise
- •Lab Exercise
- •Performing Basic Spreadsheet Tasks
- •Performing Basic Drawing Operations
- •Creating and Editing Formulae
- •Additional Applications
- •GnuCash Accounting
- •Lesson Summary
- •Review Exercise
- •Lab Exercise
- •Ubuntu and Games
- •Installing Games on Ubuntu
- •Installing a Game from a Repository
- •Playing Ubuntu Games
- •Playing PlanetPenguin Racer
- •Playing Other Popular Games
- •Installing Wine
- •Playing a Microsoft Windows Game on Ubuntu
- •Lesson Summary
- •Review Exercise
- •Lab Exercise
- •Customising the Desktop and Applications
- •Introduction
- •Customising the Desktop
- •Changing the Background
- •Customising the Theme (Buttons & icons etc)
- •Customising a Screensaver
- •Customising the Screen Resolution
- •Working with Files Using Nautilus
- •Features of Nautilus
- •Nautilus
- •Package Managers
- •Types of Package Managers
- •Using Add/Remove Applications
- •Using Synaptic Package Manager
- •Installing a Single Package File
- •Installing/Uninstalling Debian Packages
- •Software Repositories
- •Software Repository Categories
- •Adding New Language Settings
- •Lesson Summary
- •Review Exercise
- •Lab Exercise
- •Making The Most of Images and Photos
- •Introducing Graphics Applications
- •Viewing and Managing Photos with F-Spot
- •Viewing Photos
- •Organising Photos
- •Removing Red Eye
- •The GIMP
- •Drawing with Inkscape
- •Installing Inkscape
- •Creating Vector Graphic Images Using InkScape
- •Using a Scanner
- •Checking Scanner Compatibility
- •Scanning an Image
- •Lesson Summary
- •Review Exercise
- •Lab Exercise
- •Playing Music and Videos
- •Legal Restrictions
- •Playing Music Files
- •Playing Music using Rhythmbox
- •Playing and Extracting Audio CDs
- •Playing Audio CDs
- •Extracting Audio CDs
- •Burning Audio CDs
- •Playing Proprietary Multimedia Formats
- •Using an iPod
- •Playing Music Using an iPod
- •Creating and Editing Audio Files
- •Creating Audio Files
- •Editing Audio Files
- •Playing DVDs
- •Playing DVDs in Totem Movie Player
- •Backing up DVDs
- •Playing Online Media
- •Watching Videos in a Web Browser
- •Editing Videos
- •Editing videos using Pitivi video editor
- •Lesson Summary
- •Review Exercise
- •Lab Exercise
- •Ubuntu Help and Support
- •Introduction
- •System Documentation
- •Online Documentation
- •Community Support
- •Mailing Lists
- •Web Forums
- •IRC Channels
- •LoCo Teams
- •The Ubuntu Team Wiki
- •Launchpad
- •Launchpad Technical Answers
- •Launchpad Bug Tracker: Malone
- •Shipit
- •The Fridge
- •Paid For Commercial Services
- •Professional Support Services from Canonical
- •The Canonical Marketplace
- •Lesson Summary
- •Review Exercise
- •Partitioning and Booting
- •What is Partitioning
- •Creating a Partition
- •Installing GParted by Using Synaptic Package Manager
- •Partitioning Using Gparted
- •Boot-up Options
- •Changing the Default Operating System at Boot
- •Lesson Summary
- •Review Exercise
- •Lab Exercise
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Figure 8.37: Writing an Audio CD
8.5 Playing Proprietary Multimedia Formats
Note:
As previously stated, due to the legal restrictions associated with the use of proprietary formats, Ubuntu does not offer support for such formats by default. If you wish to play proprietary formats, you will need to install additional multimedia codecs. A multimedia codec is a small piece of software that allows you to watch videos or listen to music of a specific format. Although Ubuntu includes many codecs by default, you may need to install more because there are many different multimedia formats and it is unrealistic to provide them all.
Playback of multimedia files in Ubuntu is handled by the Gstreamer multimedia framework. GStreamer by itself does not provide any multimedia codecs, it relies on codecs that have been packaged into a plugin that it uses to perform the actual recording and playback. Typical plugins are:
•gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly
•gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse
•gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad
•gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse
•gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg
To know more about which Gstreamer package contains which plugins, visit the following Web site: http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/- documentation/plugins.html.
Other applications, such as VLC, MPlayer and Xine, do not use the Gstreamer framework.
You can use the Synaptic Package Manager, or the Command Line Interface (CLI) to install these multimedia codecs available in the repositories.
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Nice to Know:
Codecs can be installed directly from the Movie Player. When Movie Player recognizes a format it cannot play, it checks if a Gstreamer plugin is available for this format. If it finds one, you can install the codec easily without following the lengthy solution presented below.
1.On the System menu, point to Administration and then click Synaptic Package Manager. The Synaptic Package Manager window opens.
Figure 8.38: Launching Synaptic Package Manager
2.The Multiverse and Restricted repositories are not activated by default in Ubuntu. To install the additional multimedia codecs, you need to first activate these repositories. On the Settings menu, click Repositories. The Software Sources dialogue box is displayed.
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Figure 8.39: Displaying Software Sources
3.To enable the Multiverse and Restricted repositories, select the third and fourth check boxes available on the Ubuntu Software tabbed page, and click Close to exit the dialogue box.
Figure 8.40: Enabling Repositories
4. You may receive a notification that your repository information has changed. Click Close to exit this message.
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Figure 8.41: Repositories Information Notification
5.Once you return to the Synaptic Package Manager window, you are required to click the Reload button to apply your changes.
Figure 8.42: Applying Changes
6. On clicking the Reload button, the system starts checking the repositories for new, removed or upgraded software packages.
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Figure 8.43: Checking Package Information
7.After the Multiverse and Restricted repositories are added in the Ubuntu software sources, you can download and install additional multimedia codecs. To install a software package, you need to first locate the package in the Synaptic Package Manager window. You can either search for a specific software package manually or run a search using the search utility provided in the Synaptic Package Manager. To initiate a search for a specific package, click Search.
Figure 8.44: Initiating Software Search
8. In the Search field, enter the name of the software package that you are looking for. Click Search to begin the search.
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Figure 8.45: Searching a Software Package
9.The search results are displayed in the right pane of the Synaptic package Manager window. Right-click the package to be installed and select Mark for Installation.
Figure 8.46: Marking Packages for Installation
10.You can mark multiple packages for installation by following the same procedure. Once all the required packages are marked, click Apply to start downloading the packages. The Summary dialogue box is displayed.
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Figure 8.47: Initiating Package Download
11.The Summary dialogue box allows you to take a last look at all the software packages that you have marked for installation. To go ahead with the marked installations, click Apply.
Figure 8.48: Conforming Package Installation
12.After all the marked software packages are downloaded and installed, the Changes Applied dialogue box is displayed. Click Close to exit the Changes Applied dialogue box.